Dear editor:
Your column by Kirchick says, "In its cowardly refusal to fight against Trumpism, the GOP chose dishonor. Yet it will not stop the inevitable ... fight for the party's soul." In my opinion, the GOP has lost its soul little by little while winning. I permanently left in 1994 for three reasons: 1. the right-wingers, who by then had already seized control of the party, declared in their literature their determination to end Medicare and Social Security; 2. its association with name callers and bullies, i.e. Rush Limbaugh, and, at that time, Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich; and 3. the out-of-control demonization of the Clintons.
The current Speaker of the House Paul Ryan has talked of voucherizing Medicare for $6,000 a year and cutting entitlements such as Social Security. Now he couches his cuts with the term "reform of entitlements," but cuts are cuts, whatever the propaganda language.
Rush Limbaugh is a master at bullying and name-calling. No wonder he supports Trump, who with his "Little Marco," "Lying Ted," "Low-energy Jeb" and "Look at That Face Fiorino" is just imitating Rush Limbaugh and some hate-radio people. My right-wing childhood friend gets a rush out of Rush and couldn't care less about Social Security as long as she gets mean email Forwards ridiculing the Clintons, the poor, and Muslims. Yet she is a lovely person in all other ways, as are most of those who I feel are addicted to this form of "entertainment."
Before the 1994 election, Republican minority leader in the House, Newt Gingrich, compiled along with wordsmith (death taxes, death panels, dithering) Frank Luntz a list of vile words to call liberals and Democrats. Millions of Americans bought into the nastiness of Limbaugh and his demonization of the Clintons, his name calling and the terrible adjectives of Newt, bringing the House under the control of Newt as speaker. For the first meeting of the Republican Congress, Rush Limbaugh attended because of the part he played.
It was a big mystery to me as to why the right-wing Republicans demonized the Clintons. President Clinton was a conservative Democrat and as president, did all the things that conservatives were spouting: balancing the budget, creating jobs and reforming welfare. Liberals went up the wall. It wasn't moral turpitude; look at the morals of GOP Newt Gingrich, Bob Livingstone (speaker for one second), and Dennis Hastert. The soulless GOP gained the House, state districts were illegally gerrymandered four years after the census, and the right-wingers further attacked unions and undermined poverty and education programs at the state level. Under the demonization of President Obama, right-wingers continued their state inroads.
The GOP almost totally invented the Hillary Clinton they presented to America. Mrs. Clinton has always been the realistically based idealist that she presented in her college speech, which was considered so good that it was featured in a news magazine. Mrs. Clinton did have her faults: she was somewhat shy and reserved, but not the persona created by GOP political psychological operatives.
Linda Woodbury
Hot Springs
Editorial on 06/27/2016